The Van Gogh Museum became the first museum in the world to be awarded a BREEAM-NL In-Use sustainability certificate. The museum scored ‘Very Good’ for its building, management and use. This internationally recognised certification method assesses the sustainable character of the museum building and the way in which it is managed and used. Adriaan Dönszelmann, Commercial Director of the Van Gogh Museum, commented: ‘Our museum merits three stars and the qualification ‘Very Good’ for all these aspects, which means we have a world first. We are proud of that, for we deliberately chose this course in which corporate social responsibility and sustainability have high priority. Our museum attracts more than 1.5 million visitors each year and its core task is to preserve the cultural heritage of Vincent van Gogh. As far as we are concerned, that also means dealing responsibly and sustainably with the museum building and its environment. The certificate is the reward for all our hard work in this field for many years.’

BREEAM-NL assesses the building, management and use on the basis of nine categories, including energy, materials, water, waste, health and management. All sorts of measures that the Van Gogh Museum has taken in recent years in the field of sustainability contributed to this high score of ‘Very Good’. For example, the museum has connected heat and cold storage to its own installations, so that the building is assigned a cleaner energy label and uses power from renewable energy sources. There is also a clear environmental policy which is aimed at consuming as little water and energy as possible and reducing the ecological footprint. Procurement is on a sustainable basis and waste is separated for collection and disposal. The Van Gogh Museum also encourages employees and visitors to make use of public transport. All these measures were communicated effectively internally by means of a sustainability report.

Annemarie van Doorn, Director of the Dutch Green Building Council (DGBC) which manages the BREEAM-NL certificate, is pleased with this first: ‘It’s wonderful that the Van Gogh Museum feels so responsible for the sustainable performance of the building and therefore shows that sustainability is also an important issue for this sector. It is also an important step that the museum immediately had the management and use of the building assessed. This could encourage other museums to set to work on making their buildings more sustainable too.’

DGBC is an independent network organisation which aims to realise a more sustainable built-up environment. To that end, DGBC manages and develops the internationally recognised BREEAM-NL sustainability certificate; the measuring instrument for assessing the sustainability performance of Dutch buildings, areas and projects. DGBC was formed in 2008, on the initiative of the market, by ABN Amro, Redevco, Dura Vermeer, SBR and Amsterdam Municipal Authority and has almost 350 participants.